Analysis of the role of immune system in cancer development and treatment

Cancer is the second cause of death worldwide. The role of immune system in cancer development and therapy has recently been outlined as a topic of intense research efforts. Although evidence of the importance of the immune system in cancer is accumulating including increased incidence of cancer in immune deficiency and recent success of immune therapy of certain types of cancer, the exact mechanisms of these processes are not clear. Antimicrobial peptides are part of the normal immune response to infection in numerous organisms. They function by altering the integrity of the membrane of the target pathogen or other cells.
Recent research has revealed that these peptides in addition to antimicrobial activity, may have anticancer effects. In this project the anti-oncogenic signalling pathways of the antimicrobial peptides will be studied. Cancer cells will be treated with established or newly synthesised antimicrobial peptides alone or in combination with standard chemotherapy to explore the potential therapeutic advantages of these schemes. The signalling pathways affected by these treatments as well as types of cancer cell death including apoptosis, autophagy or necroptosis will be investigated. Given the importance of these promising new therapeutic approaches the antimicrobial peptides might pave the way for the development of more effective cancer therapy with lower side effects.